SAN Miguel enters its final elimination round game of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner's Cup against TNT in a must-win situation.
But even if the Beermen win against the Tropang Giga on Sunday, SMB isn’t assured of a quarterfinals berth just yet - and can even be out of contention for a spot in the next round.
READ: Chot Reyes braces for ‘real huge war’ when TNT faces San Miguel
That's because a tie for seventh place at 6-6 will lead to San Miguel being eliminated outright.
A scenario where the Beermen will be in a logjam with NLEX, Rain or Shine, and Magnolia will be fatal since they have an inferior quotient among the four teams.
In this situation, the team with the best quotient will secure the No. 7 spot, while the squads with the next best quotients will vie for No. 8 in a do-or-die playoff game. The side with the worst quotient will be eliminated.
San Miguel's nightmare come true
Following the Road Warriors' 122-110 victory over the Elasto Painters, NLEX will clinch No. 7 thanks to that 12-point victory, as it will have a quotient of 1.0411 or a +13 point differential.
Rain or Shine and Magnolia will then figure for the last quarterfinals berth by virtue of their 1.0127 and 0.9827 quotients, respectively (+4 and -5 point differential, respectively).
Unfortunately for San Miguel, it will be the odd team out, as it will have a 0.9585 quotient or a -12 point differential.
The Beermen can blame consecutive losses to the Road Warriors and Elasto Painters last December for that poor quotient. They lost to NLEX by five, 104-99, last December 8, and were blown out by Rain or Shine by 14, 107-93, last December 10.
San Miguel’s 85-78 triumph over the Hotshots couldn’t make up for those two losses.
But for this four-way deadlock to even become possible, all four teams must win their remaining games, most especially Magnolia, which still has two matches left in Eastern on Sunday and Meralco on Friday.
The Elasto Painters must also defeat the Tropang Giga on Friday, while the Road Warriors must win over Hong Kong on Wednesday.
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